- Smart Healthcare, Monday 26 October 2009 15.16 GMT
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said his party wanted local directors of public health to use their budgets to go "further and faster" in delivering telecare.
The aim should be that people can live independently in their own homes, reducing the need for costly and complex interventions, he told delegates at the national Children and Adults Services conference in Harrogate on 22 October 2009.
"NHS investment in telecare benefits local authorities by reducing their domiciliary care costs," he said. "So we will require PCTs to promote joint working with local authorities. That means budget pooling and joint commissioning."
Lansley said that telecare, mobile technology which identifies risk and monitors patients electronically, has been shown to work. In north west Surrey, a project focused on safety and security could reduce the number of people entering residential care by 11% in a year, he said.
Meanwhile, in Scotland a telecare project provided to 7,900 senior citizens achieved savings of £11m last year, as well as significant improvements in the self-reported quality of life for them and their carers, Lansley added.
He called for an end to "compartmentalised care" and for services to be integrated, with greater accountability for results.
"Of course, genuinely integrated working and pooled budgets are difficult asks," Lansley said. "But where the prize is independence and security for our elderly population, and peace of mind for relatives, no bureaucratic barrier can be too great to dismantle."
